Payen Pa.350
Resin parts from Unicraft have terrible quality.
I'm using MRP's Mr.Filler and Milliput as a putty. Milliput can be "thinned" with isopropanol.
The parts doesn't even match the reference. Needs lots of modifications. Still maybe easier than scratchbuilding...
So much work with applying putty and sanding. I also prepared new front wing from styrene sheets to replace the wrong one. This won't progress for two weeks while I'm on holiday.
Still much to fix, but propably it gets easier when the fuselage is put together. I used "gorilla glue" aka polyurethane adhesive.
I added again a lot of Milliput to fill the gaps. Also sanded the model of the new front wing.
Most of extra milliput sanded off.
Airbrushed Mr.Surfacer and noticed, that it is still far from smooth. Also noticed from the picture that the engine is slightly tilted. Maybe it is just exaggerated from this point of view so I'm not going to fix it.
The original Unicraft resin was too brittle and hard so I recasted the fuselage and the wings. I'm being lazy and assuming symmetric wings so I don't need to make left and right wings separately.
I made a jig from foam board and blu tack. Then I secured wings' position with thin CA glue.
More Milliput!
Let it dry and then there will be more sanding... Atleast I get more motivation when it starts to look like a plane.
I'm basically making new prop from scratch. Let's see how the carving foam holds.
I'm turning it with just a normal screw driver
The carving foam is pretty fragile and porous. Maybe not the best option here.
Rudders are in place.
My resin might be too old or I mixed it too harsh as my fuselage has a lot of pinholes due the bubbles. They are almost impossible to fill...
More details on the engine. The cooling air exit is made of a metal sheet from a spare photo etched part. Exhaust pipes will be put to the holes after some painting. The pinholes are nasty and I'm currently trying to fill them with water diluted plastic putty with a needle.
Finally making the cockpit. The instrument panel might be the only original part from the kit.
I tried to put on the original canopy part that had very unclear frame lines. That resulted about 1mm width frames that I cut from aluminium foil tape. I thought that the frames could hide the ugly boundary and glue. But the aluminium is too thin and is ugly... I had to remake it.
I had some very thin brass plate that isn't foil.
New clear canopy from some random clear plastic I found.
It is in place and is much smoother, but the brass canopy frame might be too wide...
Here the front of the engine is matched with propeller spinner. The gap is filled with plastic putty and Surfacer 1000. The spinner is "glued" with liquid mask.
Engine matches now well and I got propeller parts casted. It would be too difficult to make the propeller rotary so it will be just static.
Black gloss primer 'cause I thought it would work...
Some pre-shading
Black primer was a mistake bacause the blue paint I used didn't covered it well. I had to paint so much layers that the pre-shading disappeared.
Had to make some progress so I added the landing gear. Wheel might be from Sukhoi T-50 and other is from scratch.
Dry fitting propeller for motivation.
I made exhaust pipes from injection needles. I drilled the holes too deep and cut the pipes too short, so of course one of the pipes sinked too deep. I had to cut a very short piece to glue on the surface.
First varnish layer and decals from Payen 22 kit. The big white number 3s is from my old leftover box. Number 2 is more common in other Pa.350 models for some reason, but I didn't have that number in hand. It also should be white, so I could not print it myself.
Kommentit
23 3 December 2020, 21:32
Don EdgecombAwesome model. I've got this model via the cottage industry. It looks like you've rebuilt this from an embryonic resin blob. Excellent work. I think mine is from Unicraft or Antares Models.
Cheers,
Don
3 March 2021, 05:01
S MWell you said it, Ben M. It's almost like scratch building with some already available parts... XD
29 March 2021, 18:59
S MI found another blog that has completed this kit: maquette72.free.fr/a..acers/index_ao43.php
3 April 2021, 21:47
Alex KAnd here's another (scratchbuilt) Pa.350 afleetingpeace.org/w..es/p/payen-pa-350-cd - in this case, scratch building instead of using the resin kit seems the... lazy option! Once again congrats for what you have accomplished so far!
4 April 2021, 13:56
S M@AlexK Thanks for the link. That is one of the coolest scratch builts I have ever seen. Shame I cannot achieve same quality with this kit. I hope the finish line is close.
4 April 2021, 21:07
Pierre Pierreimpressive the way you had to go through to redo almost everything ! It is worth it look very nice and definitivelly original ! congrat and following.
Is all UNICRAFT kit are this quality ?
11 April 2021, 13:43
S MThanks, Pierre! I would say almost all older Unicraft-models are like this or a bit better... I have two other kit and two more coming. Bird of Prey (Boeing Bird of Prey (Unicraft Models , 1:72)) is a little better (or atleast I would not recast), but needs better landing gear. Martin 262 B (Martin 262 B (Unicraft Models , 1:72)) is newer production and has smoother quality, but would need some scratch building.
11 April 2021, 20:45
Robert PodkońskiOnce upon a time I have completed Unicraft's Payen Racer and Boeing Bird of Prey, too - I have just uploaded two albums with WIP and finished models' photos - take a look, if you wish, how much automotive two-component putty I used... Presumably, I had less patience (and modelling skills...) than you...
12 April 2021, 13:40
S M@Robert Thanks for sharing your models. I think you scored very well with Bird of Prey and Payen. You sanded them well and made better panel lines.
12 April 2021, 18:25
S MHad to make some progress so I added the landing gear. Wheel might be from Sukhoi T-50 (from my million-box)) and other is from scratch.
14 April 2021, 20:19
Pierre Pierrewhe we see the pieces at the begining and how it came out now it is really impressive ! great job !
14 April 2021, 20:35
S MToday it really progressed fast. After I wrestled with the exhaust pipes I painted the details. Then I thought it is ready for varnish and decals so I did that too.
20 April 2021, 20:26
S MI decided to not use oil paints for weathering, that would have took few days to dry and there was not much details to weather. So I applied the the last satin varnish layer and glued the propeller in place. Also removed the mask from canopy so it is now ready! For comparison I glued old original parts together to see, what it could have been.
22 April 2021, 08:31
Robin (WhiteGlint)A really interesting looking design. But I wonder how the pilot is supposed to see anything from that cockpit.
Your work really paid off, it looks great!
22 April 2021, 11:08
Robert PodkońskiMaybe some kind of periscope was envisaged - like in Lindberg "Spirit of St.Louis"...
22 April 2021, 11:52
Robert PodkońskiMost probably, yet in Caudrons (461 and 561) there were at least side windows.
22 April 2021, 15:37
Alex KThat was a real tour de force... Thank you for sharing your efforts - and congratulations! 👍 👍
23 April 2021, 00:48
Robin (WhiteGlint)Probably it would have been possible to just look over the airframe and engine cowling.
I know it was designed for racing so as less drag as possible but such (possibly) bad visibility seems really dangerous.
@Robert: Using a periscope for front visibility sounds nuts. 😄
23 April 2021, 17:53
Robert PodkońskiOr there was a positionable pilot's seat envisaged - like in Bisnovat SK-1 Soviet(!) racing plane...
23 April 2021, 18:12
Robin (WhiteGlint)That sounds possible. There are two glass segments on the Payen's cockpit, similar to the SK-1.
Maybe one was supposed to move up with the seat.
Sadly, I can't find much information on the Pa.350 online.
23 April 2021, 18:37
S MI couldn't find either much about Pa.350. Only some designs like Pa-22, Pa.101 and Pa.112 were built. There is no consensus about the motor either (4- or 6-cylinder or two engines in line). It doesn't have any radio either so guiding via radio wouldn't have been possible. I would lean to SK-1-style seat and cockpit.
23 April 2021, 20:51
